New 'Xbox One' console announced

Microsoft has pressed start on the next generation of its gaming
platform with the announcement of the Xbox One.

With a release date expected just before Christmas 2013, the
all-black rectangular console is minimalist in its aesthetic, with
chiseled edges, and is much larger than the current Xbox 360. It
includes a redesigned controller based on the layout of the
original and features a new Kinect sensor, all of which will come
as standard with the Xbox One package.

Hardware
Inside the system is an eight-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, a Blu-ray
drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi and "near-silent running", according to
Microsoft's Marc Whitten. Numbers-wise this is identical to Sony's
PlayStation 4.

Xbox One Controller

Xbox Live is being ramped up onto a backbone of 300,000 global
servers, which is a huge increase over today's 15,000. The promise
is that rather than just user data like game saves being stored in
the cloud, games developers will be able to use the network of
servers to incorporate additional processing power into their
creations -- not every aspect of a game will have to be processed
on a local Xbox. This will be cause for concern in the minds of
anyone who thinks the Xbox One will require an always-online
internet connection, but Microsoft has previously confirmed this
will be down to games-developers; the Xbox itself doesn't always
require connectivity. "You will not require an internet
connection...if your connection drops, you'll still be able to play
games, watch live TV and watch Blu-ray movies," a spokesperson
confirmed to Wired.co.uk.

"Yes, we will suport games that are traded or
resold"

Microsoft

The system is not backward compatible with Xbox 360 games,
however, whether downloaded from Xbox Live or disc-based. Pre-owned
games will be supported: "Yes, we will suport games that are traded
or resold...we will not block that from happening," a spokesperson
told Wired.co.uk.

Xbox One

Forza 5

New games
Games surprisingly took a back-row seat at Microsoft's
announcement, coming behind the announcement of almost everything
the Xbox One delivers that isn't a game.

However, a surprise appearance from Steven Spielberg prompted
the reveal of a live-action television programme based on the game
Halo, which Spielberg will executive produce and
Halo-developer 343 Industries is helping craft. Details weren't
revealed, but it was suggested the show will have major interactive
elements that allow viewers to affect either the plot, storytelling
or some other element.

One other major reveal however was Forza 5, which true
to expectations looked stunning and markedly improved over
Forza 4, particularly (at least in a brief demo) with
regards to anti-aliasing -- edges look smooth, rather than on the
current generation of consoles, where edges usually appear
jaggy.

Call of Duty Ghosts was the final next-gen game to be
revealed, which runs on a new rendering engine for the Xbox One and
looked like a significant step up over the current look of Call
of Duty titles.

Call of Duty GhostsActivision

Xbox One KinectMicrosoft

At a UK press conference a Microsoft spokesperson declared
today's announcement as "the first part of a two-part series" --
the second chapter is set for the Xbox E3 conference where "all the
new games for the platform will be revealed".

Microsoft confirmed that it currently has more games in
development for Xbox One than at any other point in Xbox's past. At
launch, 15 titles will be exclusive to the Xbox, of which eight are
brand new franchises, rather than sequels.

Kinect and voice
The new Kinect sensor is significantly more sensitive than its
predecessor, with the ability to understand the movement of a
player's body more precisely by monitoring a greater number of
human joints.

The Kinect can also monitor a player's
heartbeat

Forza 5

It was also revealed that the Kinect can also monitor a player's
heartbeat, which a spokesperson told Wired.co.uk is achieved by
"the greater fidelity of the Kinect's camera" being able to monitor
skin conditions and derive heartrate information from that. The
sensor itself works better in smaller rooms than the previous model
thanks to a wider field of view. It can also capture video in 1080p
high-definition.

Voice control is a key part of the Xbox One package, to the
extent that the console can be switched on by speaking "Xbox on".
In a demonstration, switching between a paused game, live TV,
movies or other apps can be achieved by just calling "tv", "music"
or "game".

Television
TV is a big focus of the Xbox One system, with built-in EPGs for
all available on-demand TV and television broadcasts, although
precisely which UK channels will benefit from this were not
confirmed at today's announcement.

Microsoft is also betting on the growing use of second screens
in the living room (you're a part of this if you use an iPad while
watching TV); on-screen apps, such as live player information of a
sports broadcast, can be displayed on the TV while being interacted
with from a supported smartphone.

Apps and other features
A new "Snap Mode" lets users run two apps at the same time,
side-by-side on the TV screen. This could be used with a movie and
web browser, where the movie plays in the left-most 75 percent of
the screen, with an Internet Explorer window taking up the
right-most 25 percent.

Skype has been integrated into the Xbox One. Video and voice
calls can be made in windowed or 1080p HD full-screen mode (or in
Snap Mode alongside a game or movie").

Release date
The Xbox One will launch "later this year" globally; a specific
date is likely being saved for E3 in June. November 2013 is likely,
to be in time for Christmas. The PlayStation 4 will also launch
around the same time.

The new Xbox is the first console from Microsoft since the Xbox
360 first went on sale in 2005. Since then it has sold over 70
million units.